Coming off huge series win at Virginia Tech, UNC baseball faces two ranked teams this week

By R.L. Bynum

Even after a possibly season-changing doubleheader sweep Saturday at Virginia Tech, North Carolina isn’t ranked in the latest D1 Baseball Top 25 for the second consecutive week. But the Tar Heels have two excellent chances this week to play themselves back into the poll and improve their NCAA tournament resume.

After taking two of three games from the Hokies, the Tar Heels (18–16, 11–11 ACC) play host to No. 13 Campbell (31–10) at 6 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN3) and visit No. 14 East Carolina (31–13) at 5 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN+) before taking a week off for final exams.

Mac Horvath flourished after getting a new contact lens prescription, leading UNC to three wins last week, including piling up 25 runs in Saturday’s doubleheader. He is Perfect Game USA’s Player of the Week, the ACC Player of the Week (the first Tar Heel to earn the honor this season) and Baseball America listed him among 11 standouts nationally for the week.

“We worked, just kind of slowing our rhythm down at the plate as a team,” Horvath said after hitting two home runs and going 3 for 4 in Tuesday’s 18–2 win over UNCW. “I was definitely a little sped up there. So working on that, and I felt really slow today, and I actually felt like I haven’t been seeing as well, so actually went to the eye doctor and I got a stronger prescription.”

The junior, who started twice in right field and twice at third base, hit .563, with a .619 on-base percentage, a 2.182 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage), a 1.563 slugging percentage, five home runs and 19 RBI in four games. Horvath hit his two longest home runs of the season in Blacksburg.

D1 Baseball’s NCAA tournament projection before last weekend’s play listed UNC as among the “last five out,” while UNC made the NCAA projections of Baseball America and College Sports Madness.

Carolina would help its cause if it could improve its 4–12 record against teams in the current D1 Baseball Top 25 with two big wins over those ranked in-state opponents this week. The Tar Heels have wins over No. 10 Duke (2), No. 21 Virginia and No. 11 Miami and losses against No. 14 East Carolina (2), Virginia (2), Duke, No. 8 Coastal Carolina, No. 3 South Carolina, Miami (2) and No. 19 Boston College (3).

Carolina’s RPI stands at 36, a rise of 11 in the last week. The Tar Heels have five remaining games against teams with better RPIs: East Carolina (28), N.C. State (24; three games) and Coastal Carolina (7). Campbell is at 37. UNC is 4–10 against teams with RPIs of at least 25.

Last weekend, the Tar Heels rebounded from being shutout for only the second time this season, 7–0 to Virginia Tech on Friday, to pour on the offense in Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of the Hokies with a 12–8 afternoon victory and a 13–7 evening win.

Campbell will be well rested after losing its last two games, 4–2 on April 25 at home against Duke and 6–5 at Elon on April 26. UNC has won the last seven meetings against Campbell, including 7–4 in Chapel Hill last season, and leads the all-time series 39–9.

The Camels have won the first two of three meetings against the Pirates this season, 6–5 on Feb. 21 and 2–1 on March 22. UNC hasn’t faced Campbell but lost to East Carolina twice, on Feb. 24 and Feb. 26, both by 6–5 scores. Carolina leads the all-time series with Campbell 39–9.

Right-hander Cameron Padgett (2–1, 5.27 ERA) will start for UNC against Camels right-hander Hunter Loyd (3–4, 4.26 ERA). Although the starter against the Pirates hasn’t been named, right-hander Connor Bovair (4–2, 4.23 ERA) is a candidate.

ECU won two of three from Tulane last weekend in a series that ended with an 8–6 Pirates victory on Sunday. Before that series, the Pirates had lost four in a row, including a 5–4 setback at N.C. State on April 25. UNC leads the all-time series with ECU 53–32.